The Blue Jays head to Sacramento with the AL Wild Card picture tightening, and they’ll lean on two familiar arms to help steady the finish of this road trip.
Toronto dropped Sunday’s series finale against the Royals, then slid out of the final Wild Card spot when the Guardians swept the Tigers for a third time in the four-game weekend set. The Blue Jays are now one game back, though they still own the season series over Cleveland, which would send Toronto to the postseason if the clubs finished with the same record.
That leaves this three-game set against the Athletics carrying real weight for a team trying to stay in the race and build some confidence before returning to the Rogers Centre. Toronto gets a chance to reset against an Athletics club that has not been playing its best baseball, but the Blue Jays will need their pitching to answer after the rough finish on Sunday.
Dylan Cease is lined up to open the series on Monday, and Toronto has every reason to feel good about that matchup. In his first season with the Blue Jays, Cease has been one of the most dependable starters in the sport, carrying a 2.25 ERA entering the outing, good for a top-five mark in Major League Baseball.
He was sharp all through August, putting together a 2.03 ERA across five starts. His last time out was even better: six scoreless innings against the Guardians, four hits allowed, and a hand in an 11-0 Blue Jays win. For Toronto, a quality Cease start has become less of a bonus and more of the standard.
Jose Soriano is expected to get the ball in Game Two, while Game Three’s starter is still undecided. Soriano has given the Blue Jays useful innings since coming over from the Los Angeles Angels, and he enters the start with a 3.52 ERA.
His numbers in Toronto’s uniform have been a little less tidy - a 4.36 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in six starts over 33 innings - but the Blue Jays have shown they can count on him when they need a lift. He helped them beat the Guardians in his most recent outing, working 4.2 innings and giving up three runs with some support from the offense.
Soriano also brings familiarity with the Athletics, having pitched in the same division as them from 2023 to 2026.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Playoff Push Now Rests On A Shorthanded Rotation
The Blue Jays have spent much of the summer trying to patch together their pitching depth, but the late-season picture is especially thin now. Jameson Taillon landed on the injured list with an elbow issue and is likely done for the year, leaving Toronto with a rotation that has already been hit hard by injuries and one traded-away arm, a tough setup as the club closes in on the final stretch.
With the season down to its last 19 games and a playoff spot still in play, the burden now falls heavily on Dylan Cease, Jos Soriano and Max Scherzer to keep the staff afloat. For a team that has managed to stay in the race despite all the attrition, the next few turns through the rotation may decide whether Toronto is still playing meaningful baseball when the calendar flips. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Move On From Recent Infield Addition After Bat Never Arrived
The Marlins have moved on from Leo Jimenez, the infielder they picked up from the Blue Jays shortly after Opening Day, ending a brief run that never really got off the ground. After being designated for assignment, Jimenez was released rather than outrighted to the minors, a sign that Miami was ready to clear the roster spot and let him look elsewhere.
For Toronto, it is another small reminder of how quickly infield depth can shuffle this time of year, especially for a player still trying to find his offensive footing. Jimenez now gets the chance to pursue opportunities with another organization before minor league free agency, while the Marlins close the book on a move that did not bring the bat they were hoping for. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Playoff Push Just Passed A Pressure Test
The Blue Jays got the kind of win that can steady a September race, edging the Royals 4-3 to move back above .500 and into the final Wild Card spot. Toronto kept applying pressure early and often, scratching across runs in the first, third and seventh innings while Max Scherzer and Kansas City spent much of the night trying to keep the game from slipping away.
Kazuma Okamoto and Nathan Lukes gave Toronto plenty of traffic on the bases with big nights at the plate, and the bullpen handled the rest once the Jays had a lead to protect. For a team trying to hold its place in the postseason picture, this was the sort of grind-it-out result that matters just as much as the standings update it produced. [Read more 🡒]